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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
391

Recherche d'une description optimum des sources et systèmes vibroacoustiques pour la simulation du bruit de passage des véhicules automobiles / Research for an optimal description of vibro-acoustic sources and systems for the simulation of vehicle pass-by noise

Hamdad, Hichem 20 December 2018 (has links)
Pour commercialiser un véhicule, les constructeurs automobiles doivent se soumettre à la réglementation sur le bruit extérieur. Le règlement de la commission économique pour l'Europe, ECE R51.03, spécifie les niveaux admissibles que peut rayonner un véhicule automobile en roulage. Ce règlement est entré en vigueur depuis le 1er juillet 2016 pour remplacer l'ancien règlement ECE R51.02 (changement de méthode d’essai et sévérisation des niveaux de bruit admissibles). La diminution drastique des niveaux sonores tolérés se fait en trois étapes : passage de 74 dB (A) sous l'ancien règlement, à 68 dB (A) en 2024. Par conséquent, les constructeurs ainsi que les fournisseurs automobiles seront confrontés à un grand défi pour atteindre cet objectif. Ainsi, l'objectif de ces travaux de thèse consiste à développer une aide à la modélisation totale du bruit de passage d’un véhicule, comme le préconisent les essais réglementaires. Le but est de construire des modèles optimaux pour prévoir et évaluer avec précision le bruit que peut rayonner un véhicule en roulage plus tôt dans son cycle de développement, i.e. avant l'étape d'industrialisation. Il faut alors se placer dans la recherche d'un compromis entre précision des estimations, sensibilité aux paramètres, robustesse de la méthode et efficacité numérique. / Currently, to put a vehicle on market, car manufacturers must comply to a certification test of exterior noise. The regulation of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, ECE R51-03, specifies permissible levels a rolling motor vehicle can emit. This regulation is applied since July 1st, 2016, to replace the old regulation ECE R51-02 (test method change and tightening of permissible levels). The drastic reduction in noise levels will be done in 3 steps: from 74 dB (A) under the old regulation to 68 dB (A) in 2024. Therefore, manufacturers as well as their suppliers will face a great challenge to achieve this goal. The objective of this thesis is to develop an aid to the modeling of the pass-by noise of a vehicle, as called for in regulatory testing. The goal is to predict and evaluate accurately the noise emissions earlier in the vehicle development cycle, i.e. before the industrialization stage. We must then seek a trade-off between accuracy of estimates, sensitivity to parameters, robustness of the method and numerical efficiency.
392

Sobre análise não linear geométrica de edifícios considerando o empenamento dos núcleos estruturais e a interação solo-estrutura / On geometric nonlinear analysis of tall buildings structures considering the warping of the structural cores and the soil-structure interaction

Silva, Wagner Queiroz 18 December 2014 (has links)
Neste trabalho foi desenvolvido um modelo para análise tridimensional não linear geométrica de edifícios considerando a influência de todas as partes componentes do sistema estrutural, incluindo a ligação núcleo-laje e o solo de fundação. Pilares e vigas são modelados com elementos finitos de barra com seção transversal de forma qualquer, enquanto as lajes são modeladas por elementos finitos de casca. Ambos consideram o comportamento não linear geométrico e adotam como graus de liberdade posições nodais e vetores generalizados ao invés de deslocamentos e rotações, sendo também considerado para o elemento de barra o grau de liberdade de empenamento da seção. Apresenta-se uma estratégia cinemática para o acoplamento de topo entre os elementos de casca e a seção dos elementos de barra, gerando assim um elemento de núcleo com diafragma. O acoplamento se dá através de uma matriz de incidência cinemática responsável por inserir na Hessiana e no vetor de forças internas do elemento de barra que discretiza o núcleo as contribuições de elementos de casca a ele conectadas. Admite-se para os materiais do edifício a lei constitutiva elástico-linear de Saint Venant-Kirchhoff e a não linearidade geométrica é considerada através de uma formulação Lagrangiana total com cinemática exata. A flexibilidade dos apoios é considerada através de uma matriz de rigidez do sistema solo-fundação. Esta matriz é calculada em outro programa de acoplamento entre o Método dos Elementos de Contorno e o Método dos Elementos Finitos por meio de uma estratégia numérica baseada, por sua vez, no Teorema de Betti-Maxwell. A estratégia consiste na determinação de coeficientes de flexibilidade de pontos sobre uma malha discreta do sistema solo-fundação, sendo o solo modelado via Método dos Elementos de Contorno com uso da solução fundamental de Mindlin e os elementos estruturais de fundação, que podem incluir placas, sapatas, blocos e estacas, são modeladas com elementos finitos convencionais de barra e de casca. O programa permite a análise de edifícios completos, considerando a influência do empenamento dos núcleos nos pavimentos e também os efeitos da interação solo-estrutura. Exemplos numéricos são apresentados para confirmar a eficiência e demonstrar o potencial de aplicação da formulação proposta. / In this thesis a numerical model for geometric nonlinear analysis of three-dimensional structures of tall buildings was developed, considering the influence of all structural components, including the core-slab connection and the foundation system. Columns and beams are modeled by a frame finite element which can have a cross section of any shape, while the slabs are modeled by shell finite elements. Both consider the nonlinear geometric behavior and adopt nodal positions and generalized vectors as degrees of freedom instead of displacements and rotations. For the frame finite element it is also considered the cross sectional warping as a degree of freedom. A numerical strategy is presented for the coupling between the shell elements and the frame\'s cross section, thus forming a structural-core element with diaphragm. The coupling is done through a kinematic array which is responsible for inserting the contributions of shell elements, connected to the core walls, into the Hessian matrix and also into the internal force vector of the frame element used to discretize the core. The linear-elastic constitutive relation of Saint Venant-Kirchhoff is adopted for the building materials and the geometric nonlinearity is considered via a Lagrangian formulation with exact kinematics. The foundation\'s flexibility is considered through a stiffness matrix for the soil-foundation system. This matrix is computed in another program based on the numerical coupling between the Boundary Element Method and the Finite Element Method, using a numerical strategy based on the Maxwell-Betti\'s Theorem. This strategy consists in determining the flexibility coefficient of points on a discrete mesh of the soil-foundation system. The soil is modeled by the Boundary Element Method using the fundamental solution of Mindlin. The structural foundation elements, including shallow foundation, footings, blocks and piles, are modeled using conventional frame and shell finite elements. The program is applied to the analysis of complete structural systems of tall buildings, considering the influence of the core warping on the mechanical behaviour of the slabs and also the soil-structure interaction effects. Numerical examples are presented to confirm the efficiency and to demonstrate the potential application of the proposed formulation.
393

Optimization and parallelization of the boundary element method for the wave equation in time domain / Optimisation et parallèlisation de la méthode des élements frontières pour l’équation des ondes dans le domaine temporel

Bramas, Bérenger 15 February 2016 (has links)
La méthode des éléments frontières pour l’équation des ondes (BEM) est utilisée en acoustique eten électromagnétisme pour simuler la propagation d’une onde avec une discrétisation en temps(TD). Elle permet d’obtenir un résultat pour plusieurs fréquences à partir d’une seule résolution.Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à l’implémentation efficace d’un simulateur TD-BEM sousdifférents angles. Nous décrivons le contexte de notre étude et la formulation utilisée qui s’exprimesous la forme d’un système linéaire composé de plusieurs matrices d’interactions/convolutions.Ce système est naturellement calculé en utilisant l’opérateur matrice/vecteur creux (SpMV). Nousavons travaillé sur la limite du SpMV en étudiant la permutation des matrices et le comportementde notre implémentation aidé par la vectorisation sur CPU et avec une approche par bloc surGPU. Nous montrons que cet opérateur n’est pas approprié pour notre problème et nous proposonsde changer l’ordre de calcul afin d’obtenir une matrice avec une structure particulière.Cette nouvelle structure est appelée une matrice tranche et se calcule à l’aide d’un opérateur spécifique.Nous décrivons des implémentations optimisées sur architectures modernes du calculhaute-performance. Le simulateur résultant est parallélisé avec une approche hybride (mémoirespartagées/distribuées) sur des noeuds hétérogènes, et se base sur une nouvelle heuristique pouréquilibrer le travail entre les processeurs. Cette approche matricielle a une complexité quadratiquesi bien que nous avons étudié son accélération par la méthode des multipoles rapides (FMM). Nousavons tout d’abord travaillé sur la parallélisation de l’algorithme de la FMM en utilisant différentsparadigmes et nous montrons comment les moteurs d’exécution sont adaptés pour relâcher le potentielde la FMM. Enfin, nous présentons des résultats préliminaires d’un simulateur TD-BEMaccéléré par FMM . / The time-domain BEM for the wave equation in acoustics and electromagnetism is used to simulatethe propagation of a wave with a discretization in time. It allows to obtain several frequencydomainresults with one solve. In this thesis, we investigate the implementation of an efficientTD-BEM solver using different approaches. We describe the context of our study and the TD-BEMformulation expressed as a sparse linear system composed of multiple interaction/convolutionmatrices. This system is naturally computed using the sparse matrix-vector product (SpMV). Wework on the limits of the SpMV kernel by looking at the matrix reordering and the behavior of ourSpMV kernels using vectorization (SIMD) on CPUs and an advanced blocking-layout on NvidiaGPUs. We show that this operator is not appropriate for our problem, and we then propose toreorder the original computation to get a special matrix structure. This new structure is called aslice matrix and is computed with a custom matrix/vector product operator. We present an optimizedimplementation of this operator on CPUs and Nvidia GPUs for which we describe advancedblocking schemes. The resulting solver is parallelized with a hybrid strategy above heterogeneousnodes and relies on a new heuristic to balance the work among the processing units. Due tothe quadratic complexity of this matrix approach, we study the use of the fast multipole method(FMM) for our time-domain BEM solver. We investigate the parallelization of the general FMMalgorithm using several paradigms in both shared and distributed memory, and we explain howmodern runtime systems are well-suited to express the FMM computation. Finally, we investigatethe implementation and the parametrization of an FMM kernel specific to our TD-BEM, and weprovide preliminary results.
394

Análise inversa utilizando o método dos elementos de contorno e correlação de imagens digitais / Inverse analysis utilizing the boundary element method and digital image correlation

Manoel Dênis Costa Ferreira 13 July 2012 (has links)
A identificação de parâmetros físicos e geométricos utilizando medições experimentais é um procedimento comum no tratamento de muitos problemas da ciência e engenharia. Neste contexto, a análise inversa apresenta-se como uma importante ferramenta no tratamento desses problemas. Este trabalho apresenta formulações que acoplam o uso do método dos elementos de contorno (MEC) e a técnica de correlação de imagens digitais (CID) (para obtenção dos campos de deslocamentos) na resolução de alguns problemas inversos de interesse para engenharia de estruturas. Implementou-se um código computacional baseado no MEC, em técnicas de regularização e em algoritmo genético, para análise inversa em problemas de identificação das propriedades dos materiais, recuperação das condições de contorno e identificação de parâmetros do modelo coesivo de fraturamento. Exemplos com dados oriundos de uma prévia análise direta (simulando dados experimentais) são apresentados para demonstrar a eficiência das formulações propostas. Ensaios de vigas em flexão em três pontos com entalhe foram realizados com aquisição de imagens para obtenção dos campos de deslocamentos da região de propagação da fissura, via CID. Estes campos foram utilizados para alimentar o modelo inverso proposto. A técnica de CID originou dados em quantidade e precisão suficientes para os fins almejados neste trabalho. A utilização do MEC mostrou-se simples e de grande eficiência para a solução dos problemas inversos tratados. / The identification of physical and geometrical parameters utilizing experimental measurements is a common procedure in treating many problems of science and engineering. In this context, the inverse analysis is an important tool in treating these problems. This work presents formulations that associate the use of boundary element method (BEM) and the technique of digital image correlation (DIC) (for obtaining the displacement fields) in solving some inverse problems of interest to Structure Engineering. A computer code based on the BEM, on regularization techniques and genetic algorithm has been implemented for the treatment of problems such as Identification of material properties, recovery of boundary conditions and identification of cohesive model parameters. Examples with data from a previous direct analysis (simulating experimental data) are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed formulations. Three point flexural tests with notch were performed and images were acquired to obtain the displacement fields on one lateral surface of the samples, via DIC. These displacement fields were used to feed the inverse model proposed. The DIC technique resulted in quantitative and accurate data for the purposes of this study. The use of the BEM proved to be simple and efficient in solving the inverse problems treated.
395

Análise elastodinâmica de placas através do método dos elementos de contorno com interação solo-estrutura / Elastodynamic analysis of plates, using the Boundary Element Method, with soil-structure interaction

Saulo Faria Almeida Barretto 27 November 1995 (has links)
A combinação do Método dos Elementos de Contorno e do Método dos Elementos Finitos é o procedimento usualmente empregado na análise da flexão de placas interagindo com o solo. Usando-se da associação de ambos os métodos pode-se tirar vantagens de cada um deles e, consequentemente, chegar a uma técnica melhorada para tratar com problemas práticos. Contudo, a formulação do MEF não representa bem as tensões e os esforços concentrados ao longo do contorno, que podem ocorrer devido à maior rigidez da placa quando comparada com o meio solo, como a formulação do MEC faz. Por isso, a flexão de placas sobre base elástica é aqui proposta utilizando-se apenas das formulações do MEC, ou seja, tanto os problemas tridimensionais quanto os problemas de placas são tratados pela formulação de contorno para casos elastostáticos e elastodinâmicos. Duas diferentes formas de tratar problemas de flexão elastodinâmica de placas são discutidas, enfatizando possíveis instabilidades numéricas que as duas técnicas podem exibir. Finalmente, depois de propor a combinação dos problemas tridimensional e de placas, os resultados de exemplos numéricos apresentados mostram as vantagens e desvantagens da técnica proposta. / The combination of the boundary element and the finite element methods is the usually employed procedure to analyse plates in the bending interacting with the supporting soil. By using the association of both methods one can take the advantage of each method and consequently reach an improved technique to deal with practical problems. However, the FEM formulation can not represent well the stress and effort concentrations along the boundary, that may occur due to the higher plate stiffness when compared with the soil media, as the BEM technique does. Therefore, the plate bending on elastic foundation is proposed here using only BEM formulations, i.e. both the three-dimensional and the plate problems are formulated by boundary formulations for the elastostatic and elastodynamic cases. Two different ways to deal with the elastodynamic plate bending problem are discussed, emphasizing possible numerical instabilities that those techniques may exhibit. Finally, after proposing the combination of the three-dimensional and plate problems, results of numerical examples presented to show the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed technique.
396

Estudo da aplicação do método dos elementos de contorno à análise de propagação em estruturas guiadas. / Applications of the boundary element method in the analysis of propagation in guided waves.

Eduardo Victor dos Santos Pouzada 23 April 1999 (has links)
O presente trabalho objetiva um estudo de aplicação do Método dos Elementos de Contorno à análise de problemas de propagação de ondas eletromagnéticas. O Método baseia-se numa formulação integral que elimina todas as operações de integração em domínio, restando apenas as de contorno. Inicialmente faz-se um estudo dos fundamentos teóricos do método, apresentando-o de forma genérica e encaminhando sua aplicação à equação de Helmholtz. Os procedimentos computacionais desenvolvidos para a implementação do método viabilizam a solução eficiente de problemas de interesse, envolvendo diferentes meios com ou sem perdas. São apresentados resultados de simulações realizadas que confirmam a aplicabilidade do método, permitindo também uma análise de seu desempenho através da variação de parâmetros, como, por exemplo, número de elementos na discretização e função de interpolação. / This work deals with a study of application of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) directed to electromagnetic guided wave propagation. This method relies on an integral formulation that does not need any domain integration. Only boundary integrations have to be performed. The work begins with a study of the theoretical foundations of the method, presenting its general formulation and then directing it to Helmholtz’s equation solution. Developed computational procedures allow efficient application of the method to real problems with more than one medium, with or without losses. Simulations results are presented which confirm the applicability of the method and allow the analysis of its performance through parameters variation as, for example, the number of discretized elements and interpolation function.
397

Análise elastodinâmica de placas através do método dos elementos de contorno com interação solo-estrutura / Elastodynamic analysis of plates, using the Boundary Element Method, with soil-structure interaction

Barretto, Saulo Faria Almeida 27 November 1995 (has links)
A combinação do Método dos Elementos de Contorno e do Método dos Elementos Finitos é o procedimento usualmente empregado na análise da flexão de placas interagindo com o solo. Usando-se da associação de ambos os métodos pode-se tirar vantagens de cada um deles e, consequentemente, chegar a uma técnica melhorada para tratar com problemas práticos. Contudo, a formulação do MEF não representa bem as tensões e os esforços concentrados ao longo do contorno, que podem ocorrer devido à maior rigidez da placa quando comparada com o meio solo, como a formulação do MEC faz. Por isso, a flexão de placas sobre base elástica é aqui proposta utilizando-se apenas das formulações do MEC, ou seja, tanto os problemas tridimensionais quanto os problemas de placas são tratados pela formulação de contorno para casos elastostáticos e elastodinâmicos. Duas diferentes formas de tratar problemas de flexão elastodinâmica de placas são discutidas, enfatizando possíveis instabilidades numéricas que as duas técnicas podem exibir. Finalmente, depois de propor a combinação dos problemas tridimensional e de placas, os resultados de exemplos numéricos apresentados mostram as vantagens e desvantagens da técnica proposta. / The combination of the boundary element and the finite element methods is the usually employed procedure to analyse plates in the bending interacting with the supporting soil. By using the association of both methods one can take the advantage of each method and consequently reach an improved technique to deal with practical problems. However, the FEM formulation can not represent well the stress and effort concentrations along the boundary, that may occur due to the higher plate stiffness when compared with the soil media, as the BEM technique does. Therefore, the plate bending on elastic foundation is proposed here using only BEM formulations, i.e. both the three-dimensional and the plate problems are formulated by boundary formulations for the elastostatic and elastodynamic cases. Two different ways to deal with the elastodynamic plate bending problem are discussed, emphasizing possible numerical instabilities that those techniques may exhibit. Finally, after proposing the combination of the three-dimensional and plate problems, results of numerical examples presented to show the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed technique.
398

Analysis Of Electromagnetic Pulse Simulators

Prakash, Rahul 09 1900 (has links)
Electromagnetic pulse simulators are essential for testing the ability of electronic devices to withstand high intensity electromagnetic ends. This work presents the analysis of various parallel plate transmission lines used in electromagnetic pulse simulators. Numerical techniques are developed to obtain the characteristic impedance, field map, and cut-infrequencies for the higher order modes of these transmission lines as exact analytical methods are not available for the determination of these quantities. The field map and characteristic impedance are computed using both finite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM). Cut-off frequencies of the higher order modes are computed using FEM. The analysis presented can handle very general transmission line geometries. This analysis is useful for the design of electromagnetic pulse simulators.
399

Consistent description of radiation damping in transient soil-structure interaction / Konsistente Beschreibung der Abstrahldämpfung bei transienter Boden-Bauwerk Interaktion

Zulkifli, Ediansjah 31 July 2008 (has links) (PDF)
Dynamic soil-structure interaction problems are characterized by an unbounded soil-domain and thus by radiation damping. This radiation damping arises due to wave propagation from the excited structure into the subsoil and may lead to a reduction of the structural response. A consistent description of this radiation damping has been carried out by means of different concepts. A widely used approach truncates the unbounded medium by a special kind of absorbing boundaries which are free of artificial reflection. The resulting finite domain can be treated as usually by finite elements. In this report, an alternative method to represent an unbounded medium in a dynamic analysis is presented. In principle, it is a conjunction of the boundary element method (BEM) in the frequency domain to reproduce the far-field and the finite element method (FEM) in the time domain to analyze the near-field. This alternative procedure avoids the introduction of any artificial boundaries. The procedure is based on a rational approximation of the dynamic stiffness of the unbounded domain in the frequency-domain. In this report, the dynamic stiffness of the unbounded domain is obtained from the BEM. The matrix-valued coefficients of the rational approximation function are determined by means of a least-square procedure. The time-domain representation is achieved by splitting the rational force-displacement relation into a series of linear functions in the frequency-domain corresponding with first order differential equations in the time-domain. This splitting process has been demonstrated as numerically effective and in addition, no Fourier transformation is necessary. In this thesis, dynamic soil-structure interaction problems with a relatively large number of degrees of freedom have been examined. These degrees of freedom arise from the discretization of the coupling interface, internal variables from the splitting procedure and from modeling the structure. The new method is especially suitable for systems with transient excitations as arising from rotating machines at startup and shutdown. The theoretical part of the thesis contains elements of system theory and discusses particularly stability problems arising from the rational approximation. The practical part presents a large amount of convergence studies and numerical results for layered soil and finally represents the propagation damping as a kind of damping ratio which is typically used in elementary structural dynamics. / In der Dynamik der Boden-Bauwerk-Interaktion wird der Boden in vielen Fällen durch ein unbegrenztes elastisches Medium beschrieben, wodurch das Phänomen der Abstrahldämpfung begründet wird. Diese Dämpfung entsteht durch Energietransfer von der erregten Struktur in den Boden durch Wellenausbreitung und reduziert somit die Strukturschwingungen. Um das infinite Bodengebiet dennoch durch finite Elemente beschreiben zu können, werden üblicherweise als Hilfsmaßnahme künstliche sogenannte absorbierende Ränder eingeführt. In dieser Arbeit wird eine alternative Methode zur Darstellung des unbegrenzten Mediums in der Dynamik vorgelegt. Im Prinzip handelt es sich um eine Kopplung der Rand-Element-Methode (REM) für den unendlichen Boden (das sogenannte Fernfeld) im Frequenzbereich und der Finite-Element-Methode (FEM) für das Nahfeld im Zeitbereich. Dieses alternative Verfahren vermeidet die Einführung künstlicher Ränder. Das Verfahren basiert auf einer rationalen Beschreibung der dynamischen Steifigkeit des Fernfeldes im Frequenzbereich. Diese Steifigkeit wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit durch die Rand-Element-Methode erzeugt. Die Matrix-wertigen Koeffizienten der rationalen Frequenzfunktion werden durch Minimierung des Fehlerquadrates berechnet. Die Transformation dieser Frequenzdarstellung in den Zeitbereich gelingt durch algebraische Überführung der rationalen Funktion in ein in der Frequenz lineares Hypersystem mit einer zugeordneten Zustandsgleichung erste Ordnung im Zeitbereich. Dieser Prozess hat sich als numerisch effektiv erwiesen und erfordert darüberhinaus keine Fourier-Transformation. Das entwickelte Vorgehen wird in dieser Arbeit an Problemen der dynamischen Boden-Bauwerk-Interaktion mit einer großen Anzahl von Freiheitsgraden erprobt. Diese Freiheitsgrade folgen aus der Diskretisierung in der Koppelfuge zwischen Boden und Struktur, der Diskretisierung der Struktur selbst und aus der Überführung in das Hypersystem mittels interner Variablen. Das neue Verfahren eignet sich insbesondere für Systeme mit transienter Erregung, wie sie beim An- und Auslaufen von Rotationsmaschinen ensteht. Der theoretische Teil der Arbeit wird geprägt durch Elemente der Systemtheorie und setzt sich zudem mit typischen Stabilitätsproblemen auseinander, die aus der rationalen Beschreibung entstehen. Der praktische Teil präsentiert Konvergenzstudien und numerische Ergebnisse für Boden-Bauwerk- Interaktionsprobleme mit geschichtetem Boden bei transienter Erregung mit Resonanzdurchlauf. Zudem gelingt eine Darstellung der Abstrahldämpfung in Form des Dämpfungsgrades D, wie er in der klassischen Strukturdynamik verwendet wird.
400

A study on the acoustic performance of tramway low height noise barriers: gradient-based numerical optimization and experimental approaches ( Étude de la performance acoustique des écrans antibruit de faible hauteur pour le tramway : optimisation numérique par méthode de gradient et approches expérimentales)

Jolibois, Alexandre January 2013 (has links) (PDF)
Noise has become a main nuisance in urban areas to the point that according to the World Health Organization 40% of the European population is exposed to excessive noise levels, mainly due to ground transportation. There is therefore a need to find new ways to mitigate noise in urban areas. In this work, a possible device to achieve this goal is studied: a low-height noise barrier. It consists of a barrier typically less than one meter high placed close to a source, designed to decrease the noise level for nearby pedestrians and cyclists. This type of device is studied both numerically and experimentally. Tramway noise barriers are especially studied since the noise sources are in this case very close to the ground and can therefore be attenuated efficiently. The shape and the surface treatment of the barrier are optimized using a gradient-based method coupled to a 2D boundary element method (BEM). The optimization variables are the node coordinates of a control mesh and the parameters describing the surface impedance. Sensitivities are calculated efficiently using the adjoint state approach. Numerical results show that the shapes generated by the optimization algorithm tend to be quite irregular but provide a significant improvement of more than 5 dB(A) compared to simpler shapes. Utilizing an absorbing treatment on the source side of the barrier is shown to be efficient as well. This second point has been con firmed by scale model measurements. In addition, a full scale low height noise barrier prototype has been built and tested in situ close to a tramway track in Grenoble. Measurements show that the device provides more than 10 dB(A) of attenuation for a close receiver located at the typical height of human ears. These results therefore seem to con rm the applicability of such protections to efficiently decrease noise exposure in urban areas.

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